Wood-heel machine



Nov. 22, 1932. w. J. SHAW WOOD HEEL MACHINE Filed May 13. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l lNVENTOR h/eshry J Shaw ATTORNEY Nov. 22, 1932. w. J. SHAW WOOD HEEL MACHINE Filed May 13. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fnvew fiaf Wesleyd Shaw 62 ii'arwa y Patented Nov. 22, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WESLEY JOHN SHAW, OF HAVERHIIIL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATER-SON, NEW JERSEY, A

CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY WOOD-HEEL MACHINE Application filed May 13,

The present invention relates to machines for operating on heels and more particularly to machines for grooving and shank shaping wood-heel blanks during the manufacture of Louis heels.

The nature and the object of the invention will be better understood in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a heel manufactured in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side view of the same; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a machine constructed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, partly in section upon the line 3 3 of Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 4 is a front view of a portion of the same; Fig. 5 is a di agrammatic view,'upon a larger scale, of a portion of the machine shown in Fig. 4, a part of the cutter being shown broken away in order to expose to view a portion of the heel blank behind the cutter, and the path of travel of the heel blank being shown as of sharp curvature, for clearness; Fig. 6 is a side view of the heel blank shown in Fig. 5, but after the cutting operation; Fig. 7 is a section taken upon the line 7 -7 of Fig. 6, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 8 is a further enlarged view of a portion of the mechanism shown in Fig. 5: and Fig. 9 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1, but showing the heel blank as it appears just after it has been operated upon by the machine of the present invention.

Wood-heel blanks 2 are adapted, to be clamped between jaws 4 and 6 provided in pairs upon each of a plurality of jacks 8 that form a head mounted upon a shaft 10 rotatable in any desired way, aszbyrmeans of a pulley 12. A wood-heel-shaping cutter 14 is mounted upon a rotatable shaft 16 that is disposed. in the machine shown. at right angles to the shaft10, and in the same plane therewith. The aws 4 and 6 are so positioned relatively to the shaft 10 that the blanks 2 clamped thereby will be caused to travel into the path of operation of the cutter 14. during the rotation of the jack. with the shank lip portion 19 of the heel blank projecting between the cutter and the shaft 10 as shown in 1925. Serial No. 30,067.

Fig. 3. The cutter 14 is so shaped as to cut into the block 2, along the breast, a surface, indicated at 18. The surface 18 is a surface of revolution the axis of which is the axis of the shaft 10. This surface is a portion of the side of a torus, whose cross-section passing through its axis is not, however, circular.-

This surface is composed of an aggregate of circular arcs all having their centers on the axis of the shaft 10. One of these arcs is shown at 15 in Figs. 5 and 8. That portion of the surface 18 which lies nearest the axis of the shaft 10 forms the rounded shank lip.

Thus, in a single operation, the heel b ank is not only breasted, but the shank lip thereof is also rounded at 20 and 22.

The relatively movable jaw 6 of each clamp may be of ordinary well known form, such as is illustrated and described in Letters Patent N 0. 1,678,792, granted July 31, 1928, and need not, therefore, be further described. The relatively stationary jaw 4 comprises an enlarged base movable toward and from the axis of the shaft 10 and provided with a cam.

face 24, that is adapted to engage'a correspondingly shaped cam face 26 provided upon a bushing 28. The bushing 28 is mounted upon a sleeve 30 that is threaded upon the forward, threaded end 32, of the shaftlO. By threading the sleeve 30 in and out, therefore, the bushing 28 may be adjusted longitudinally of the shaft 10, thereby providing for adjusting the aws 4 towards and from the axis of the shaft 10. When the bushing is adjusted towards the right, as viewed in Fig. 3, the jaws 4 will be adjusted outwards. When the bushing is adjusted towards the left, springs 34 will move the jaws 4 inward to maintain the faces 24 and 26 in contact. The sleeve 30 is held in adjusted position by a lock nut.

The cutter shaft 16 with its cutter 14 is vertically adjustable (Fig. 3). radii of the circular arcs on the toric surface above mentioned may be adjusted so that the curvature of the shank lip may be made to fit that of the shank of the shoe which is to carry the heel. The adjustment 28, 30 is used to position the heel blank properly relatively to this surface, so that, for example, the

Thus the proper thickness of shank lip may be obtained. In order to adapt the jack to handle heel blanks of different heights, its outer jaw 6 is adjustable toward and from the inner jaw 4 by any desired means such as the bolt and slot connection shown. To center the blank in the clamp jaws, guiding fingers may be employed, as is illustrated and described in my copending application Serial No. 39,954 filed June 27, 1925.

The machine of the present invention produces also a transversely concave curve in the breast surface 18 of the heel, as indicated at 36, Fig. 7. This will be understood from the following considerations:

At the time that the heel blank 2 is in its lowermost position, indicated at A, Fig. 5, this being the position in which the finishing cut is given along the vertical central line of the surface 18, the cutter 14 will produce, along the longitudinal medial line 38 (Figs. 5, 8 and 9) of the breast 18, a curve precisely the same as the shape of the cutter, indicated by the line of Figs. 5 and 8. Any 1 point of the curve 40 of the cutter 14, as the point M, will produce, by cutting, a point m of the surface 18. The point M of the curve 40 of the cutter 14 is shown at the right of Figs. 5 and 8, but at the time that it produces the point m, it will be positioned at the same point as the point m, due to the rotation of the cutter 14 about the shaft 16. The oint m is shown projected from Fig. 5 into ig. 6, for clearness.

As the heel blank 2 travels from the position A toward the position B, Fig. 5, successive points n, 0, etc. of the breast surface 18, lying in the same horizontal plane in the heel at the point m, will be finished by points N, 0, etc. of the curve 40 of the cutter. For example, when the point p of this plane, on the extreme edge of the breast surface 18, is final- 1y reached, it will be finished by the point P of the curve 40 of the cutter 14. The successive points N, O, P of the cutter are disposed successively nearer to the axis of the shaft 16 of the cutter, as is clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 8. The corresponding points n, o, p are, therefore, produced by the cutter 14 in the breast surface 18 successively farther in the direction of the arrow 42 of Fig. 6, as will be understood from a comparison of Figs. 5, 6 and 7, it being understood that Fig. '7 is a projection of Fig. 6. The transverse, concave curve 36 is thus produced in the breast surface 18, as is clearly shown in Fig. 7. The points n and o are omitted from Fig. 6, for clearness, but are clearly shown in Fig. 7. The point p is shown projected from Fig. 5 into Fig. 6, but it will be understood that at the time of cutting by the point P of the curve 40 of the cutter 14, it occupies the position p, as the heel blank at that time occupies the position B.

Modifications will readily occur to persons skilled in the art and all such are intended to be included within the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A machine for operating on heels hav ing, in combination, a shaft, a bushing longitudinally adjustable on the shaft having a cam face, a jack having a plurality of coop erating aws one of which jaws has a cam face in contact with the bushing cam face, means yieldingly maintaining the cam faces in en gagement, whereby the jaw having the cam face may be relatively adjusted by adjusting the bushing on the shaft, means for rotating the shaft, and a cutter rotatable about an axis at an angle to the axis of rotation of the shaft, the axes being coplanar, and the cutter being positioned in the path of travel of a blank in the jack during the rotation of the shaft.

2. A machine for operating on heel blanks having, in combination, a shaft, a bushing longitudinally adjustable on the shaft having a cam face, a jack having a plurality of "aws one of which has a cam face in contact with the bushing cam face, means yieldingly maintaining the cam faces in engagement, whereby the jaws may be relatively adjusted by adjusting the bushing on the shaft, means for rotating the shaft, and a cutter positioned in the path of travel of a heel blank in the jack during the rotation of the shaft.

3. In a wood heel breasting machine, a cutter shaped to form a breast and shank lip surface on a heel blank, :1 work holder comprising a rotating head having a heel blank receiving surface, arranged to revolve a heel blank on said surface about the axis of rotation of the head, to carry the cutter relatively across the breast surface of the blank, and means for changing the distance of the heel blank receiving surface from the axis of rotation of the head to vary the radius of the shanklip curve.

4. In a Wood heel breasting machine, a cutter shaped to form a compound breast and curved shank lip surface on a heel blank, :1- work holder comprising a rotating head having a heel blank receiving surface, arranged to revolve a heel blank on said surface about the axis of rotation of the head, to carry the cutter relatively across the breast surface of the blank, and means for changing the distance of the heel blank receiving surface from the axis of rotation of the head to secure the lip curvature desired.

5. In a wood heel breasting machine, a cutter shaped to form a shank lip surface on a heel blank, a work holder comprising a rotating head having a heel blank receiving surface, said holder being arranged to revolve a heel blank on said surface about the axis of rotation of the head, to carry the cutfor relatively across the front surface of the blank, and means for changing the distance of the heel blank receiving surface from the axis of rotation of the head to vary the radius of the shank lip curve.

6. In a heel cutting machine, a tool, a jacking instrumentality arranged to hold a heel blank with its breast face toward the tool, a member carrying said jacking instrumentality and arranged to rotate about an axis located outside of a heel blank in the jacking instrumentality, with the attaching face of the heel blank lying between the said axis and the top-lift end of the heel blank, means for effecting a relative rotation of said tool 'and jacking instrumentality about said axis to carry the tool relatively across the front surface of the heel blank, and mechanism for adjusting the distance of the attaching face of the heel blank from said axis.

7. In a heel breasting machine, a cutting instrumentality, a jacking instrumentality arranged to hold a heel blank with its breast face toward the cutting instrumentality, a member carrying said jacking instrumentality and arranged to rotate about an axis located outside of a heel blank in the jacking instrumentality, with the attaching face of the heel blank lying between the said axis and the top-lift end of the heel blank, means for effecting a relative rotation of said cutting and jacking instrumentalities about said axis to carry the cutting instrumentality relatively across the breast face of the heel blank, and mechanism for adjusting the distance of the attaching face of the heel blank and of the cutting instrumentality from said axis.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

WESLEY J. SHAW. 

